Switched
by Merwholocked628
Summary: Merlin and Arthur wake up in each others bodies. (Yeah I know very Freaky Friday) How will Merlin cope with being King? How will Arthur cope with being a servant? How will Merlin keep his secret when Arthur possesses all his magic and doesn't even know? And most importantly, how will they defend the kingdom against Morgana without knowing each others strengths?
1. The Switch

**Authors Note: Hi whoever is reading this, if there's anyone reading this. This is my first story so reviews and helpful criticism is very appreciated **

Merlin had done some strange things over the past ten years of service to the King, but he was certain he had never done this. As he blinked the sleep out of his eyes he found that he was lying wrapped in fine silk bed-sheets. Ones that he recognized very well, for every morning for the past decade he had made them hadn't he? They were the bedclothes on the bed of King Arthur. Merlin bolted upright and looked around him, it was most definitely the Kings chambers, but thankfully it was lacking in one thing, it lacked the actual King. Arthur wasn't in here, so where was he? Of course the servant was very glad he wasn't in his chambers at this time, but all the same, he should be, where else would he be at this hour?

Arthur was in fact experiencing the same phenomenon as Merlin. Peering blearily at his surroundings, two questions formed in his foggy mind

First: "How did he get here?"

Second: "Why the HELL was he in Merlin's bed?!"

He looked around for his idiot servant, found nothing, and then, satisfied that the prat was missing he went on pondering how he came to be here. He was certain that he hadn't fallen asleep in this bed, that was a horrible thought, falling asleep in Merlin's bed, Arthur shuddered. Just as he was rising to his feet Gaius, the court physician, burst through the door.

"Merlin!" He scolded exasperated "What are you still doing here? Arthur requested your assistance half an hour ago!"

Arthur stood their speechless. He was most definitely not that bumbling idiot.

"Gaius! I'm…I'm not…" He stuttered trying to explain as Gaius shoved Merlin's shirt and neckerchief at him.

"Hurry up boy!" Gaius snapped at him pushing him towards a changing screen.

Deciding Gaius was not going to listen, Arthur changed, surprised when Merlin's clothes fit perfectly.

Avoiding Gaius's looks of pure exasperation Arthur hurried to the door, extremely puzzled.

Merlin studied his reflection warily. The blonde haired, blue eyed, fairly arrogant looking face of King Arthur stared back at him copying his every move. _This can't be happening._ He thought to himself. But he knew that it was, this wasn't an illusion, wasn't a dream, somehow, someone had taken his brain and stuffed it into the head of the prat everyone else called Sire.

He turned away from the mirror just in time to see himself stumble through the heavy double doors. It was quite funny the way Arthur moved, tripping over himself, falling into plant pots, down flights of stairs, into coats of armor (All the knights in the armory at the time had gotten a laugh out of that, especially Gwaine. "Having fun down there?" He had asked doubling over with laughter before helping what he had thought was Merlin to his feet "You're more drunk then I am!" He had called after him.) He was unfamiliar with the clumsy way his new limbs moved. Merlin (the real one) stared at Arthur. Arthur stared back accusingly as if expecting Merlin to have an answer to this. Merlin just shrugged, panic in his eyes.

"I don't know." He said. "I woke up in your bed, thinking I must've fell asleep while I was doing my chores. And then…" Merlin trailed off gesturing at the mirror, Arthur figured out the rest.

The disguised king took to pacing the room, hands gripping his now ebony hair. "It must be sorcery." He said flatly after a long silence.

A new wave of panic took hold of Merlin. If Arthur was in his body did he have his magic? To test this Merlin recited an incantation under his breath:

"Si ambulavertis ex adverso mihi, ut velit crus" He mumbled the words sounding strange on Arthur's tongue. He pointed his hand at Arthurs worn leather boots, nothing happened. No warmth flowed through him, no power tingled in his fingertips. He was powerless

But Arthur was filled to the brim with power, and if he ever discovered it, well Merlin didn't like to think about the consequences.

**~.oo0oo.~**

Morgana stared into the cauldron chuckling as she watched her dear brother and his servant flounder around in each other's bodies.

"Oh Emrys." She clucked "Not so powerful without your magic now. And if Arthur found out.." She trailed off relishing the idea. There was a hard knock on the door as if someone really cross, wanted something quite badly, this instant. Morgana glared at the woodwork internally screaming at whoever was knocking for ruining her moment of victory.

"Come in." She snapped making no attempt to mask her annoyance.

"Milady." The dark cloaked Mordred bowed his head curtly.

"Yes? What is it? What do you want?" Morgana glared at the druid.

"Our bandits were wondering if you'd successfully disabled Camelot Milady. They're getting quite impatient." A flicker of fear passed over Mordred's boyish face.

"Don't tell me your afraid of a few simpleminded bandits." Morgana scolded "Yes, our dear friend Emrys has no power, no means to stop us, and if he does some how channel his power though the King, he'll be killed on the spot." Morgana gestured towards the pool of water. In it Mordred saw the panicked faces of his once friends. He smirked. This was too good. Camelot would be theirs within a day.

**~.oo0oo.~**

Merlin ran his fingers through his now fair hair. This was not good. He was completely defenseless, he had no idea how to use a sword, even though in this body he could probably manage it a lot better, he had no control over his secret anymore, and Arthur couldn't control his magic. If emotions ran to hot, Arthur would use it involenteerly and Merlin's head would be on the chopping block.

"I don't know how we're going to pull this off Merlin." Arthur said pulling him away from his frantic thoughts.

"Pull what off?" Merlin asked rather stupidly.

Arthur shot him his famous 'God you're an idiot Merlin' looks and rolled his eyes.

"This!" He gestured to the both of them. "We can't very well go about insisting that I'm you and you're me! Everyone would think we've gone mad!

"So what are we going to do?"

"Your going to have to act like a King, and I'm, well I'm.." He trailed off going white as a sheet.

"Your going to have to act like a servant!" Merlin sniggered finishing his sentence. Arthur recovered and with an air of arrogance said,

"Of course I'm not! Only when other people are in the room. You'll be doing all the actual chores." He said falling down on the bed cupping his hands behind his head. "Get to it then." He waved his regal looking servant off.

"Cabbage head." Merlin muttered. Both of them were completely focused on the problem at hand, not caring what problems they might face in the future.

**Authors note: The spell roughly translated means "Boots walk towards me as if you had legs." I made it up then went on Google Translate and translated it into Latin so it's probably not that accurate.**


	2. Council Meeting

**Authors Note: Hey guys! Big thank you to those of you who reviewed. I've got 12 followers! On only one chapter! *****Screams into pillow***** Again any more comments/constructive criticism you got I will be happy to listen. And because I forgot it last time; I don't own Merlin, I never will, and if I did the show wouldn't have ended Chapter 2 here we go:**

Over the next few days Merlin found he was actually quite good at handling a sword in this new form.

"Your not as useless as I thought Merlin." Arthur remarked nodding in approval after one of the knights training sessions.

"I think we're retaining each others physical attributes, like I've got your fighting ability in this form and you've got my.." Merlin trailed off before he could let a certain precious secret slip.

"I've got your what?" Arthur prompted wondering what special abilities Merlin could possibly have.

"Legendary cleaning skills of course." Merlin finished weakly trying to laugh.

"Legendary!" He scoffed "Yeah right Mer-Arthur." He suddenly changed his tone when a guard walked by.

"Sire." He addressed Merlin making Arthur bite his lip to keep from saying something. "The council requests your presence urgently." Merlin nodded to the guard and started making his way to the council chambers whispering urgently to Arthur.

"How am I going to do this? I don't know what I'm doing; I've been making this up as I go along! How do I address council members, give advice on an apparently urgent issue! I don't know how to do that!" He rambled barely stopping for breath.

Arthur waited until he stopped hyperventilating. "Just calm down, they'll probably do most of the talking themselves, it's what they always do. They'll explain the situation and then start arguing like small children." Arthur rolled his eyes then continued, "When they do, I'll tell you what I'd advise them to do. Got it-OUCH." Merlin turned back towards the King. He saw himself hopping around on one foot holding the other, hissing in pain.

"How the HELL do you steer this thing!" Arthur yelled.

"With great difficulty." Merlin choked out his sides hurting from trying not to laugh.

Arthur grumbled crossing his arms as Merlin practically dragged him to the council chambers.

"Ah Sire." One of the council members spotted him. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

Merlin inclined his head respectfully.

"We've heard reports of men seen around the ruins of an old castle out in Cenred's kingdom. Men baring the Red Tree on their armor. Now we all know that the Red Tree is Morgana's crest. So we were discussing if we should follow up on the rumors." The council members turned to him questioningly.

Merlin didn't need Arthur's advice on this matter; he knew exactly what he would say.

"Of course we should. If Morgana is gathering an army we should head it off before it becomes a real threat. I'll take a few of my most trusted knights to this castle ruin to measure the truth in these rumors." Merlin said with an air of importance. He himself was surprised at how regal that sounded. He must have picked something up from Arthur on one of his many, many sit-ins on the boring council meetings.

"Yes Sire." The council members nodded as if they already knew that would be his answer and just needed him to say it out loud.

Arthur was surprised at how well that went, Merlin sounded like a leader back there, he, well he sounded like a king! Not that'd he ever mention that to him. He followed him to the door and asked;

"Which knights are you planning to take?"

"I thought; Gwaine, Percival, Leon, and Elyan?" He phrased it like a question, like he was asking Arthur's permission. Arthur nodded, those were exactly the men he would have chose.

"Arthur, ready the horses." Merlin grinned, enjoying ordering Arthur around. Arthur rolled his eyes and gave another one of his famous looks the 'If we ever get out of here I will kill you' look. But he did what he was told acting like the good little servant Merlin had never been.

The knights were saddled up and ready to go in a matter of hours and Gaius came over and bid them farewell casting a warning glance between Merlin and Arthur. (They had told him what was going on as soon as they had found out) Merlin knew what that glance meant. It meant 'Keep a close watch on Arthur, do NOT let him discover you gifts' and Merlin meant to.

**Sorry for the short chapter Guys! But this felt like the right place to end it, plus we don't want things going to fast. I promise chapter 3 will be longer and will include; Action and Arthur starting to discover Merlin's secret YAY. **


	3. Discovering himself

** Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews! And the followers and the support I haven't gotten a negative comment yet! Well except the ones from myself. Ok so as promised action and secrets starting to be revealed YAY. That Morgana! Anyone have a time-machine….and a shotgun? Ok, ok, I'll stop rambling. Sadly BBC has not given me the rights to Merlin, I still own nothing. Chapter 3 here we go:**

The first day of riding had gone smoothly, too smoothly in Merlin's opinion. He couldn't remember the last time things had gone so well. And then, on the second day, in the morning, just as they'd set off, things started to go wrong. It had started when Merlin had asked for Arthur to give him the map. Arthur fumbled for it trying to hand it to him and promptly dropped it in the mud.

"You do know Merlin, that that was the only map in the entire castle that showed the old ruin right?" Merlin sneered at Arthur, making all the knights laugh.

"Sorry Sire." Arthur spat the last word and dismounted to pick up the soggy piece of parchment.

"Don't worry about it." Merlin waved his hand with an evil twinkle in his sapphire eyes. "You'll just have a few more chores to do when we get back."

Arthur groaned, he knew he wasn't this mean to Merlin, **(A/N *smirks* that is exactly what Arthur would do to Merlin in a situation like that.) **–so why was Merlin treating him this way?

Merlin started to list the chores that Arthur would have to do, a teasing light still in his eye but Arthur knew that he would still have to do them.

"Lets see I'll want my chambers and the guest chambers floors scrubbed. I need the round table polished and what else.." He trailed off considering. "Ah! I know! I want you to polish the boots of the entire army." He finished with a completely evil chuckle. Revenge was priceless!

Gwaine vividly remembered the last time Arthur had made Merlin polish the armies boots, it was a punishment for sending the bill of Gwaine's drinking problem to him. He felt bad for the servant, but at least he didn't have to do it this time. The knights were all laughing at the servant's misfortune, watching him turn bright red.

"Okay, okay that's enough." Merlin choked out "Now lets see if this map is still usable." He plucked the map from Arthur's hands and gingerly wiped the soggy parchment on his pant leg. The ink was blurred but legible and Merlin saw that they were going in the exact opposite direction of where they should be.

"You DOLLOPHEAD!" He shot Arthur an angry looked. "You have been leading us in the exact opposite direction of the castle. Do you know how much time we have wasted? Morgana could be marching against Camelot right now!" He yelled glaring furiously at the ebony haired Arthur who honestly looked pretty pitiful in Merlin's body. Arthur felt rage flood through him, boiling his blood, tingling in his fingertips. He knew what a hurry they were in it wasn't his fault! He wanted to break something, he knew he could make them pay for teasing him, he was the king of Camelot for gods sake he shouldn't be treated like this. He knew he could even in this form, especially in this form, in fact he felt more powerful in Merlin's body then he had felt in his entire life!

A branch snapped from the tree above the knight's head, causing Gwaine, Elyan, Leon, and Percival to scramble for cover. All their attention was solely on the branch; only Merlin noticed Arthur's eyes flash angrily from blue to gold.

**.oo0oo.**

The bandits looked out from their place in the trees, Arthur's knights should have past through here by now shouldn't they? The leader a big, muscled man with thinning dark hair, and a thick beard to match shifted nervously, if they angered the Witch, he was too scared to even think Morgana's name. If they let Arthur and his knight's slip through their defenses, he and his men would not live to see another sunrise.

"Keep me posted on movement." He growled at the nearest bandit.

"Yes Sir." The bandit answered.

"What game are you playing at Pendragon?" The leader asked himself quietly.

**.oo0oo.**

Things moved less smoothly when they were following the right path. First of all Arthur became panicked every time his mare snapped a twig under her hoof. Merlin suspected it was because of the branch incident, and he was panicked too. Only because Arthur was an inch away from discovering his secret, and then brutally murdering him. Every turn gave way to a new patch of problems, there were thick vines covering the path, there were forks in the rode and the map was so blurred in these places that it gave no clue on which way to turn. And then they stumbled upon the Bandits' camp.

"Be on the look out." Merlin ordered the knights. In turn each of them gave a nod of obedience to the King. Drawing their swords they went cautiously into the Bandits' trap. The Bandits seemed to spring from nowhere. Charging out of bushes, climbing out of trees, the knights of Camelot found themselves overrun. The Bandit leader stepped forth, and smiled evilly as if he knew he had already won. Which, from an outsider's view it would seem he had. With a yell he charged forward towards the knights, preparing to kill them once and for all.

The clanging of metal on metal could be heard for miles. The knights noticed that this battle was not as easily won as the others. They were just as outnumbered as they had been in the others, Merlin was cowering behind some trees as usual, Arthur was alternating between fighting and yelling at him, as usual. So why hadn't they won yet? Only Merlin knew the answer, he was only yelling at Arthur to keep up appearances for that was what Arthur usually did to him, Arthur was only cowering to keep up appearances, he longed for battle, he wanted to help his men, how dare these bandits attack his knights. But he could do nothing, this body was weak, it could not hold a sword properly, it couldn't do anything useful, and his men were going to die because of it. The Bandits were winning the battle and they knew it. The leader was grinning widely,

"The Witch will be so pleased in seeing you Arthur Pendragon!" He growled "I'm sure she has many surprises up her sleeve for you. The druid boy and his army will take Camelot, and you are powerless to stop them. He will clear the throne for the rightful queen! Queen Morgana!" All his men yelled in assent

Fear flooded through Merlin. The prophecy! If Mordred and Morgana were working together, then Arthur would die. No he had to stop it there had to be a way.

Questions were reeling in Arthur's mind _Druid boy? What Druid boy? _He thought. But when the bandits had yelled Queen Morgana all questions were driven out of his mind by rage. That traitor did not deserve to be queen. What had she ever done for Camelot? Arthur had brought peace to the land, he had trained the best knights, and any siege his enemy had planned against him had failed. So why were they loyal to Morgana. Anger boiled his blood, and just like before, power tingled in his fingertips. Without thinking Arthur thrust his hand forward, and all the bandits were blown backwards, skulls cracking against rocks and trees. And Arthur had the strangest feeling that he had caused it.

_He had the strangest feeling that he possessed Magic._

**A/N: DUN DUN DUN! So what did you guys think? Any changes I need to make? I will happily take suggestions. I have the final chapter of this story planned out in my mind (Don't worry it's not happening any time soon) and the last line is hilarious. I was having giggling fits all last night. I'll update soon thanks for the continued support.**


	4. The Reveal

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews; I'm so happy that my first fan-fiction has received so much good feedback! Ok, I don't own Merlin, I never will, I wish I did though ! Chapter 3 here we go:**

_ He had the strangest feeling he possessed magic._

That thought plagued Arthur throughout the night. He wasn't able to laugh with all the others as they cracked jokes at Merlin's expense;

"Of course the princess was no use at all, too worried about Meerrrlin" Gwaine sneered while Elyan and Percival held back chuckles "What you afraid of your boyfriend getting hurt?" He continued teasing

"Boyfriend?" Merlin and Arthur looked incredulously at each other "Why would I want HIM?" They both screeched. "I have a wife! A wife whom I love very much!" Merlin said taking the words out of Arthur's mouth keeping up appearances.

"And she's away, isn't she?" Gwaine cast a sly glance at Merlin.

"Yes, on a business trip. She's visiting the lower town to strengthen the relationship between her and her subjects." Arthur added bitterly, forgetting that he was not supposed to really care about these things.

"Oooo look, Princess's boyfriend is getting all defensive." Gwaine continued. Arthur and Merlin both looked like they wanted to die of embarrassment.

"Okay, okay." Elyan held his hand up to silence Gwaine "That's enough, I think we've embarrassed our king enough for one night."

Merlin sighed in relief; he would never be able to look at Arthur again because of what just happened. Him and ARTHUR! Really Gwaine? That's low.

Arthur was relieved for a different reason. While they were teasing him he had felt the power flow through his blood again, and he was not sure how they hadn't noticed before, but he didn't want to chance it again if he did have…he couldn't even think the word, he had never shown signs of having…_** magic. **_He couldn't think straight, his head was spinning, he couldn't accept the fact that he, THE KING, the person who was supposed to enforce Camelot's laws against magic, could be a sorcerer himself.

"MERLIN." Leon's voice jolted him out of his thoughts.

"What?" Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin.

The knights scoffed at Arthur's white face and big eyes.

"Jeez Merlin, your not on trial!" Percival laughed. And Arthur noticed Merlin sending him a very guilty look.

"We were just wondering if you saw anyone when we were attacked by the bandits."

"Yes. I saw you, Leon, Elyan, Gwaine and Mer-Arthur. Plus the nice bush I was hiding behind" He said sarcastically catching himself before he could let his and Merlin's predicament slip.

"Yes, that's extremely helpful Merlin." Leon said. "What I meant was the bandits were pushed backwards by magic. While you were cowering behind your bush did you see anyone, out of the ordinary?" Another, even guiltier look from Merlin.

"Nno no one like th-that." Arthur stumbled over his words, _'Oh god they did see. Oh no. What am I going to do?' _his panicked thoughts threatened to show on his face.

"Must have been sorcery I mean it just must of. There is no other possible explanation." Elyan said waving his hands about. Arthur looked like he wanted to shrink into the foliage.

Merlin was terrified. Properly scared. Arthur had discovered his magic. And the poor man looked like a deer caught in a trap. Arthur must think that this magic is entirely his own. It was a logical explanation Merlin thought. Morgana had magic; Morgana is his sister, so it's possible that he could have magic too. He wished more than anything he could tell him what had really happened, but he couldn't, not yet anyways.

Arthur was going to have to tell someone. He was terrified of himself and he didn't think he could do this without someone he could confide in. When nightfall came and everyone was asleep he crept over and gently woke Merlin.

"M-m-merlin." He whispered pale faced and afraid, shaking him.

"What!" Merlin said crankily sitting up. _Jeez, I never realized just how cranky Arthur is when he wakes up _He thought, he felt like he wanted to murder Arthur right there on the spot, make him pay for waking him. "What do you want Arthur." He whispered more seriously noticing his king's frightened expression. "What's wrong?"

Arthur motioned for Merlin to walk for him. Nodding, the fair haired servant slowly got to his feet, biting his tongue to keep his teeth from chattering, his chainmail magnifying the bitterly cold night. Merlin followed Arthur into the forest his thoughts growing more frantic with every step.

_ "Is he about to question me? Does he suspect it's my magic he has. Oh my god, is he leading me into the woods to KILL ME!?" _Even though he thought that the last one was unlikely considering he was masquerading as the King of Camelot, but still.

Putting out a hand to stop Merlin, Arthur wheeled around and with a deep breath he started on a confession that he thought would definitely turn his best mate (though he would never admit that out loud) against him forever.

"Merlin, I have something to tell you." Arthur started

"_Oh no here it comes." _Merlin thought steadying himself.

"I didn't think I could say this in front of the knights, since they don't know I'm me, they might.." Arthur couldn't say the word out loud.

Merlin feigned concern, he knew what was coming next but he knew he couldn't let Arthur on to that fact.

"Arthur, what is it?" He asked cautiously.

Arthur took another deep breath, "If I told them they might..Execute me." Before Merlin could get another word in Arthur was rambling on "I didn't lie before, I didn't see a sorcerer, I don't know how, but somehow I-somehow I- Okay somehow I used _magic_." He whispered the last word bowing his head expecting fear and rage to come bursting out of his friend.

There was fear yes. But it wasn't the kind Arthur was expecting, it wasn't fear directed at him specifically, it was more of fear for him and something else Arthur couldn't quite place.

Merlin had a big decision on his hands. Arthur had just opened up to him, had entrusted his life to Merlin. Of course he did that almost every day, but this time it was willingly, knowingly. And Merlin had to decide whether to entrust Arthur with his. Maybe it was time; yes it was time to let go of his secret.

Taking a deep breath Merlin broke down the wall between his true self and Arthur. "I know, I expected something like this to happen." Seeing Arthur's shocked expression he continued, "Remember when I told you that maybe we got each others physical traits? Well, I got your strength and combat skill and you got my, my magic. Yes I have magic. I was born with it, I'm sorry Arthur, you have to realize that I did not want to keep this secret from you. I'm so sorry." Merlin backed away from Arthur eyeing him warily.

Relief struck Arthur first and then shock. Merlin the very person he trusted most save Gwen was a sorcerer. Then betrayal dug at him like a knife. Merlin had betrayed him. He was like Morgana and Agrivane. What was it about him that made him such an easy target for betrayal? Did his face scream naive? How could Merlin do this to him?

Now it was Merlin's turn to put his life in Arthur's hands.

**A/N: Sorry everyone for the Cliffy. They have to happen you know! Ok I will update soon. Love you all!**


	5. Magic

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated! I had a huge case of writers block but I'm back now so yay! Ok lets solve this cliffhanger. Disclaimer time, I DO NOT IN ANY WAY OWN MERLIN (sadly) Ok here we go Chapter 5.**

Arthur's hand instinctively grabbed at where his sword was supposed to be sheathed before remembering that Merlin was in his body, therefore had his armor, and therefore had his sword.

"You what?" He said his voice dangerously quiet. "I trusted you Merlin! How could you do this to me!" His voice grew louder with every syllable.

"Arthur, I promise you I've only ever used my magic to protect you." Merlin said his hands raised in a position of surrender.

"How can I believe anything you have to say?" Arthur spat. "You're a traitor and a liar. I can't believe I ever trusted you."

"I'm not a traitor. Everything I have ever done was for the good of Camelot." Merlin said desperately.

"Prove it!" He snarled.

Merlin thought about how to go about proving it. The easiest thing to do was to recite a spell, but he couldn't do that because Arthur had his magic, so he'd have to tell him what he had done. But there was no guarantee that Arthur would believe him.

"Okay." Merlin said calmly after a moment. "This is going to be a little scary for you, but remain calm and repeat after me." 

"Why? How do I know your not going to make me kill myself?"

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Okay first of all, I would never do that. Second of all, your in my body, if you die I'm stuck here, in this." He gestured to Arthur's body.

"And why wouldn't you want that? For all I know you could of placed this spell on us so you could be King!" Even Arthur knew he was reaching but he didn't want to listen to anything Merlin had to say.

"I'd be a terrible King." Merlin said flatly "Now just for once in your life do what I tell you!"

Arthur's shoulders (well technically Merlin's shoulders) slumped in defeat. "Fine." He snapped.

"_**Fromum feohgiftum on faeder bearme. Fromum feogiftum.**_" He said slowly enough so Arthur could pronounce it correctly.

Arthur shot him a murderous glare, but sighed and repeated it. His eyes flashed and a small ball of light floated in his palm. Arthur recognized it. Many years ago when Merlin had drank out of the poisoned chalice this light had guided him out of the cavern where the mortis flower grew.

"Even all those years ago, it was you." Arthur shook his head and extinguished the ball of light in his palm.

"I saved you then and I haven't stopped since." Merlin said quietly

"Why didn't you tell me?" Arthur asked the anger in his voice replaced by sadness.

"I wanted to. You can't even believe how much I wanted to. But your father would have killed me without a second thought."

"And me? What about when I became King?"

"Magic killed your father. I would hate it too if I were you."

"I would have been fair to you."

"Really? Cause I'm pretty sure if I didn't have your sword, my head wouldn't be attached to my shoulders right now."

Arthur sighed reluctantly knowing he was probably right.

"Ok so what happens now?"

.**oo0oo.**

"Oh I'll show you what happens now!" Morgana spat at her scrying dish. Arthur was okay with this? She had expected Emrys to be history by now and then Arthur who was not in control of his powers to be easy prey. In fact she had expected him not to make it past her bandits. Well if you want something done right you have to do it yourself.

"Oh Mordred!" She cooed almost endearingly. _Almost. _There was still an underlying bitterness to her tone that made Mordred want to run for cover, instead he came in and bowed to her like any loyal knight.

"Milady?"

"Prepare our best knights. We need to make my dear brother feel welcome here. And then once both Emrys and Arthur are dead Camelot is ours for the taking." She said with a small psychotic giggle, Mordred smirked along with her.

Their knights moved quickly, setting up defenses and preparing for siege. But it wasn't fast enough for Morgana. Arthur would be here in a day and he would not leave here alive. None of them would. She'd make sure of that.

_**.**_**oo0oo.**

Merlin and Arthur tried to sneak back into camp without being noticed. And failed. The knights had all woken shortly after they had left to find their king and favorite servant missing.

"And where were you two?" Gwaine smirked; still not ready to give up on his little joke.

Arthur and Merlin glared at him stepping away from each other "None of your business." They mumbled simultaneously each shooting looks at the other.

Merlin's begged him not to tell the others about his magic

Arthur's said, I won't, you will, and I'm still furious.

Merlin shot him a desperate stare that clearly said, how the hell am I going to explain all this?

"Go on, tell them." Arthur growled out loud.

"Tell us what?" Elyan asked looking between Arthur and Merlin. "Wait Gwaine's not really on to something is he? Because if you hurt my sister I will.."

"NO!" they both shouted at the same time.

"Elyan, I love your sister with all my heart, and I wouldn't do anything to hurt her." Arthur said forgetting he was in Merlin's body.

Shocked and almost angry expressions came from all the knights "You what?" They gasped simultaneously

"Okay explanation time!" Merlin cheered with fake enthusiasm, jumping between Arthur and the knights. "See we've had a bit of a problem for the past few days, I'm not really Arthur. I'm Merlin. I woke up in the Royal Prat's body a few days ago and haven't really figured out how to get out."

The knights had heard stranger things but it was still a little far-fetched

"Prove it." Gwaine said to what looked like Arthur. "Tell me something only Merlin knows about me."

"You're a noble." Merlin answered promptly.

All the knights and Arthur stared at Gwaine.

"Yup, that's Merlin." Gwaine said softly shifting uncomfortably under the weight of all the stares.

"You never told us." Leon said.

"Didn't want too." Gwaine shrugged.

"Merlin also has another thing he wants to confess to you." Arthur said prompting him with a steel edge to his voice.

"No, I really don't." Merlin said but one glare from Arthur told him he had no choice in the matter.

"Arthur, care to demonstrate?" he asked quietly ignoring the knights mystified looks.

Arthur grumbled a little and came over, glaring daggers at his servant.

"What do I say?" He asked flatly.

Merlin thought for a moment and then asked Percival to hand Arthur a torch, which he did rather puzzled.

"Ok, before we do this I want you to know that this is all me. When we switched bodies Arthur and I got each other's strengths too. I got his strength and he got my-Well you'll see."

"**Leohtbora**" Merlin said slowly and Arthur repeated him. His eyes flashed gold and the torch was lit ablaze.

The knights instinctively drew their swords and looked between the pair murderously.

"I can explain." Merlin said quickly.

"You'd better."

**A/N: The spells used in this are taken from the actual show. The first spell was used by Merlin when he was dying of poison to get Arthur out of the cave. The second spell was one of his many, many fire spells and used to light a torch in Excalibur. I hope to update soon sorry about the wait. **


	6. Warlock Not Sorcerer

**Hey guys! Ok so before I get on with the story I have a couple ideas to run past you, is that ok? I'm going to pretend you said yes and do it anyway. So number one. My friends and I were watching Cinderella 3 a few nights ago and we noticed Jaq and Gus (the two mice) were always like hugging and dancing and there was no awkwardness, so we thought, of course, to ship them. Should I write a fluffy (literally lol) fanfic about that or is it too weird? Number 2, I've been playing this fanfiction out in my head for a while now, do you guys want me to write a fanfic about Merlin's past? Like before he came to Camelot? Let me know. Sorry for the long A/N I will get on to the story now. I think I've made it pretty clear now I don't own Merlin. Chapter 6 here we go.**

The knights had encircled Merlin and Arthur, bodies tensed ready for a fight.

"Explain." Leon spat. "Now."

None of the knights were even remotely ready to accept magic; they had lost too much in its clutches. But Merlin however had been a seemingly loyal friend for many years and if Arthur hadn't killed him yet they should at least give him a chance to explain.

The servant wasted no time jumping into explanations. "I do have magic." He admitted if that wasn't already clear enough. "But I'm not a sorcerer."

Silence as this sunk in. Percival was the first one to break it.

"What are you then?" He asked puzzled.

"A warlock." Merlin answered simply.

"And the difference?" Leon asked.

"A sorcerer or sorceress chooses to practice in magic. A witch or a warlock has no choice, they're born with it." He said looking everyone in the eye in turn.

Leon couldn't even imagine, being born with magic. The self-loathing that must go with that. The fear of being found out, executed for just being alive. A pang of sympathy flashed through him.

"So you were born with it." Gwaine said.

Merlin nodded "Just like Morgana."

Anger flashed through the group and they all stared at the king, well no, the servant who happened to look like the king.

Merlin cringed "Maybe not the best comparison." He said quietly making them laugh nervously.

"We should all get some rest." Arthur chimed in authority ringing through his voice (well, Merlin's) sounding very odd to the knights. They weren't used to someone who looked like a servant to sound so, well, kingly. "It's been a long day."

They all nodded now realizing how tired they were.

As they were lying down Merlin turned over,

"Arthur?" he murmured

"Mmm?" Arthur said annoyance ringing through his voice.

"I'm sorry."

"I would say it's ok but to be honest I'm ticked." Arthur laughed quietly. He was angry with him, but not as angry as he felt he should be. Merlin under any other circumstances would not be alive. _ He shouldn't be alive _A small part of his brain thought. The part that was as ruthless as Uther was. Thankfully that was a very small part.

"Arthur?"

"Yes, Merlin!?"

"If you're going to fight Morgana in my body you should probably learn some more magic."

That wasn't a very fun prospect for Arthur but he could see the reasoning behind it. So he just nodded and turned the other way.

**.oo0oo.**

Morgana gazed over her men one more time, tomorrow it would be Arthur and a handful of knights against three hundred and fifty soldiers and druids. Their castle fortress was well protected with shield charms, the men were well versed in offensive and defensive curses, everything was in her favor. So why did she feel so uneasy? Maybe it was because Arthur had accepted Merlin; maybe it was because Emrys was still alive and no less powerful. No he was weakened; Arthur still didn't know how to control his new power. That was the one consolation Morgana had.

**.oo0oo.**

"Try again."

Arthur looked at the small dagger on the ground and willed it to move. It flew at Merlin who barely had enough time to duck out of the way.

"Try again, and this time don't cut my head off." Merlin laughed, glancing at the dagger now embedded in the tree behind him.

"I can't control it!" Arthur moaned burying his head in his hands.

"You'll learn, your doing better than I ever did at the beginning." Merlin said reassuringly.

Arthur looked up. He realized that Merlin, when he was a child, must have been terrified of himself.

"Yeah, I was." Merlin said as though he was reading the King's mind.

"What?"

"Terrified of myself."

"How did you..?" Arthur sent him a confused look

Merlin shifted a little uneasily. "I kinda went inside your head a bit." He looked up at his king's now slightly angry expression "See people mainly druids can do that. Even though you've got most of my power I still kept that tiny tid-bit."

"And how many times have you done this?" Arthur asked wondering how many of his thoughts Merlin had snooped in on.

"Only this once! I swear. I just wanted to see if I could still do it. I thought you might freak out if you started hearing voices inside your head."

"Telepathy? You can communicate using each other's minds?"

"Basically yeah, but it's not fun if your not expecting it. Trust me!" Merlin grimaced.

Arthur decided he didn't want to know everything and went back to trying to pull the dagger out of the tree and into his hand. Which he managed to do after awhile.

"Ok let's try something harder." Merlin said after awhile

"That wasn't hard enough?"

"Not nearly." Came Merlin's solemn reply.

They continued to practice until Elyan signaled that the camp was all packed up..With no help from them. The knights glanced at the fair-haired servant and the ebony haired king uneasily as they got onto their horses. Nobody quite knew what to do with them, so they rode in an unbreakable silence for most of the way. There were no disturbances today, but the slightest noise caused the men to draw their swords. Between the threat of Morgana, The recent bandit attack, and the discovery of Merlin everyone was tense. And that feeling only grew as they reached a tall dark spire with an army to greet them

"Hello dear brother." Morgana greeted almost cheerfully.

**A/N I'll update soon promise! Okay please review and any suggestions you have would be much appreciated! Thanks!**


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